ADP Report: 123K Private-Sector Jobs Lost Nov-Dec

Some 123,000 jobs were lost in the private sector November to December, according to the ADP National Employment Report for December, which was produced by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Moody’s Analytics.

Ahu Yildirmaz, vice president and co-head of the ADP Research Institute, said in a press release that December marked the first decline since April 2020. The report is produced using ADP’s actual payroll data and seeks to pinpoint the change in monthly nonfarm private employment.

“The job losses were primarily concentrated in retail and leisure and hospitality,” Yildirmaz said.

ADP data is culled from some 460,000 companies employing nearly 26 million U.S. workers. The November total of jobs added was revised from 307,000 to 304,000, the report indicated.

The ADP Research Institute distributes a monthly national employment report as part of its aim to provide deeper insights into the U.S. labor market. The report, which is released to the public at no charge, also strives to offer businesses “credible and valuable information.”

Small businesses saw 13,000 private-sector jobs disappear last month. Comparatively, bigger businesses lost 147,000; medium-sized firms — 50 to 499 employees — added 37,000 jobs.

MarketWatch’s poll of economists in December indicates that job growth slowed, with nonfarm employment up by 50,000. ADP said that prior to its report, only a small number of economists anticipated a drop in December’s payroll employment.

Leading researchers at the yearly meeting of the American Economic Association said the fallout from the pandemic could bring about a jobless recovery.

A record 52 cities, counties and states celebrated 2021 with higher minimum wages. Business and labor activists are at odds about whether the new requirements will do more harm than good. The federal minimum wage is holding at $7.25 per hour, its 2009 level, but more than 50 percent of locales are upping the rate to at least $15 per hour.